Oil Price Watch

[bkwillia]

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/weekly_petroleum_status_report/current/txt/wpsr.txt

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve) dropped by 7.6 million barrels compared to the previous week.
At 296.9 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are in the lower half of
the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories
increased by 3.0 million barrels last week, but are in the lower half of the
average range. Both finished gasoline inventories and gasoline blending
components inventories increased during this period. Distillate fuel inventories
decreased by 2.1 million barrels, and are in the lower half of the average range
for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories decreased by 1.7 million
barrels last week. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 8.3
million barrels last week, and are in the middle of the average range for this
time of year.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period has averaged 20.9 million
barrels per day, up by 0.9 percent compared to the similar period last year.
Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline demand has averaged 9.3 million barrels
per day, or 0.3 percent above the same period last year. Distillate fuel demand
has averaged 4.4 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up 4.3
percent compared to the same period last year. Jet fuel demand is 1.5 percent
lower over the last four weeks compared to the same four-week period
last year.

Gasoline imports are still strong, allowing a build as refiners cut production. Sooner or later, China will start to import more gasoline to ease its shortage, or maybe not.  I don't know how those guys are thinking.  Overall we lost more than 1 million barrels per day of petroleum product.  Oil is up about a buck at 90.88. 

[earl]

$93.55, it's up $2.49.
EtG

[Chip Haynes]

Yeah, oil, gold and nautral gas have all been climbing today. Nothing radical, just real steady-like.

[del2les]

What? Can't be!  Just this week I watched a report that entailed the "bursting of the bubble" on oil prices, and their "experts" stated oil prices were headed back below $50 soon......LOL

Gotta love those "experts". I think they were the same ones that claimed "man-made" global warming was about to wipe us out too....LOL  Okay, just having some fun their. No flaming messages.... That one remains to be seen.

[Chip Haynes]

Well, it IS 64 degrees here right now.

OH. MY. GOD.

 

[pamela]

94.55

dec. 26 8:50 a.m. eastern time

wonder if it will hit 100.00 by this time next week?

[Chip Haynes]

$95.69.

Apparently oil did not, in fact, take a holiday earlier this week.

[45MPG]

ooohhh...just saw 96.43. Bend over and grab your ankles, it'll be a wild ride! I just took the gas hog van over to the kwikee-mart and filled up the tank. We're taking a trip next week and I figure prices will start heading back up...30 gallons at 2.85...don't even want to think about it....

[Chip Haynes]

So do oil prices traditionally get a bit of a New Year's run up? Or are we seeing some sort of "The Party (Christmas) is over, so let's get back to it"?

[45MPG]

To tell the truth I haven't really been watching oil prices at the end of past years, but if the 'conspiracy' part of my brain is right this is a good time to let the prices rise---everyone's got the holidays on their minds and New Years is coming. Right now most people are more worried about the price of Champagne and balloons.

[Chip Haynes]

Yeah, but if my office is any indication, the entire free world is running on a skeleton crew this week- and probably next. Maybe the price of oil is being run up by two bored guys who have the stock exchange to themselves this week.

 

[Forager]

And now coal supply problems from Australia making the news.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=apQuIdlfctJE&refer=energy

Coal to liquids will save us. Don't worry.

[Chip Haynes]

One thing I had read about coal many years ago was that the deeper coal being dug up now has fewer BTU's per ton than coal dug up, say, a decade or two ago. This means anything that uses coal needs to use more tons of coal to get the same energy output. Add that to our basic "peak coal" scenario, and you have an accelerated fast crash for the burning rock.

This just can't be good. 

[Forager]

One thing I had read about coal many years ago was that the deeper coal being dug up now has fewer BTU's per ton than coal dug up, say, a decade or two ago. This means anything that uses coal needs to use more tons of coal to get the same energy output. Add that to our basic "peak coal" scenario, and you have an accelerated fast crash for the burning rock.

This just can't be good. 

Yep.  I met a guy behind an old coal burning power plant here in SE Michigan a few years back while starting a hike.  This guy had just retired from the plant.  He told me that most of the coal the plant burns there now comes from way out west (Wyoming I think) and had less BTU's per ton than the coal that used to come from Appalachia, which is much closer.  I suspect we've reached peak "easy to get at" coal here in the USA.

BTW this old power plant (built more than 50 years ago and grandfathered from clean air restrictions, I believe) has recently upgraded the rail that delivers the coal.  Looks like they intend to add greenhouse gases and Mercury for many more years. All the signs around here say future "fed-ghetto" or "civilised hub" if you will.

[Chip Haynes]

I happened to watch the first rerun of A Christmas Story the other night on TCM- they run it for 24 hours over Chirstmas. Great movie, and if you watch very closely, there's one quick shot of the house from the outside after The Old Man goes down to the basement to mess around with the misbehaving old coal-fired furnace. The scene from the outside of the house shows the furnace chimney as it pours out that thick, oily coal smoke. It was really nasty- and that's from just ONE house.

Imagine if we went back to coal to heat our homes.